Week 11- Advice to New Teachers

My initial advice to new teachers would be to start to build your own creativity.  Take up a hobby.  It could be something new that they’ve wanted to try out, or something they tried before.  Once they start, they then need to practice.  The focus should be on the process, not the goal.  To live in the moment, and appreciate all the steps.  As Robinson says “the answer now is not to suppress our creativity but to cultivate it more seriously and with a greater sense of purpose.” (Robinson, 2138).

Next they should connect to other teachers, look for inspiration from them.  Join Twitter, Facebook, follow other teachers blogs and Pinterest boards.  Take their ideas and modify them accordingly.  Don’t try to do it alone, education and teaching isn’t meant to be a lone thing to do.  While doing this they should be collecting and organizing their ideas, and then start to share as well, it’s important to give back too.  They need to realize that we all have the potential to be creative, so don’t be afraid to try anything.  Another important piece of the creativity process is to take the time to reflect on their teaching- did it work, why or why not? What could be changed to make it better?  Make sure all along that they give their self time to practice and learn, and remember not to be too harsh on oneself.  Expect from yourself as you would expect from your students, and remember “imagination is the root of creativity” (Robinson, 1890).

When we look at all the content requirements in education, I would tell new teachers to start with the big picture- the idea of backwards design, what is it you want your students to learn.  From there, then find the connection in the subjects, how can they be blended together?  Next look at what types of creative problems and questions can be extracted from this to engage students.  “When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get work done, ” therefore the “real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself.” (Robinson, 1913).  They must remember it isn’t about the content, it’s about the learning.  If we can engage and motivate students, no matter what the subject is, they will learn.  Not only will they just learn, but they will invoke their own creativity within themselves, and take the idea of learning to the next level- to prepare students for life after school, to discover things they are good at, strengthening their will and skills to pursue them, and find their confidence, capability, and passions.  (Robinson, 1799).